First Poet Laureate of Hendersonville, TN
Historical markers, those plaques about interesting people or places from the past, are usually found along sidewalks. Some are even near traffic lights. You have to stop to read the contents on the bronze metal surface. It must be important because it was made to bookmark a part of history for some reason. If you find one you’ll get a peek. I noticed and read a marker in Hendersonville, Tennessee called Free Hill Road. It was located at U.S. 31E and Free Hill Road and gave me a glimpse into Black History.
Prior to the Emancipation Proclamation, in 1860 Sumner County’s population of enslaved Africans was 7,700. After the Civil War ended, freedom was attained for them. Emancipation Proclamation was a document issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863 that declared enslaved people in the Confederate states free. These newly emancipated people settled in the free hill area in the Rockland Community in the late 1860’s. This area, according to oral traditions, was named after them thus becoming known as Free Hill Road.
In 1993, Free Hill Road was annexed into the City of Hendersonville and area roads were named for some of the original families. In 2007, an historical marker for Free Hill Road was erected on September 9, 2007. It was erected by the Tennessee Historical Commission. (Marker Number 3B 52.) For Black History Month, I wrote a tribute poem to this historical area. Consider it a poetic marker and commemoration for the freed enslaved Africans’ resilience and determination to become African Americans.
The Journey on Free Hill Road
Along this road Free Hill Road
it seems to echo spirits in the wind
whispering We Free, Now We FREE
of those Enslaved Africans
who sought a place to call home
a feeling of peace and wholeness
people longing to just LIVE
and be in a familiar place
make memories filled with smiles and laughter to watch children grow strong
with hearts in a community of dreams
to become better and thrive
JUST BE FREE
finally on land connect to that land
even plant gardens to watch grow and feed us land that still needs us but in a healing way feel the dirt between probing thick fingers touching layers of hope below as the sun shines to grow plants and us land not filled with of blood, violence and fear but the hope and love
marked here where we settled
on this Free Hill Road.
Henry L. Jones is the Inaugural Poet Laureate of Hendersonville, TN and president of the National Black Poet Laureate Society. Jones is a listed poet in the Academy of American Poets and author of Black Skillet Blues: Poetry without Cornbread (due in 2025).
